![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17323536564870.jpg.jpg\")
Yet the Zimbabwean president sought to project authority in his speech, which he delivered after shaking hands with security force commanders, one of whom leaned over a couple of times to help Mugabe find his place on the page he was reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Central Committee of the ruling ZANU-PF party voted to dismiss Mugabe as party leader at a meeting earlier Sunday and said impeachment proceedings would begin if he doesn\u2019t resign as the country\u2019s president by noon Monday. Mugabe made no reference to the party moves against him, instead saying he would play a leading role in a party congress planned for Dec. 12-17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe congress is due in a few weeks from now,\u201d Mugabe said. \u201cI will preside over its processes, which must not be prepossessed by any acts calculated to undermine it or compromise the outcomes in the eyes of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mugabe has discussed his possible resignation on two occasions with military commanders after they effectively took over the country on Tuesday, troubled by his firing of his longtime deputy and the positioning of unpopular first lady Grace Mugabe to succeed him. He referred to the military\u2019s expressions of concerns about the state of Zimbabwe, whose economy has deteriorated amid factional battles within the ruling party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhatever the pros and cons of the way they went about registering those concerns, I as the president of Zimbabwe, as their commander in chief, do acknowledge the issues they have drawn my attention to, and do believe that these were raised in the spirit of honesty and out of deep and patriotic concern for the stability of our nation and for the welfare of our people,\u201d Mugabe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deputy whom Mugabe fired, former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is positioned to become Zimbabwe\u2019s next leader after the ruling party\u2019s Central Committee made him its nominee to take over from Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from white minority rule in 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Committee members stood, cheered and sang after Mugabe was removed from his post as party leader. Meeting chair Obert Mpofu referred to him as \u201coutgoing president\u201d and called it a \u201csad day\u201d for Mugabe after his decades in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe has been our leader for a long time and we have all learned a great deal from him,\u201d Mpofu said. But Mugabe, he said, \u201csurrounded himself with a wicked cabal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The meeting replaced Mugabe as party chief with Mnangagwa and recalled the first lady as head of the women\u2019s league, in decisions set to be ratified at the party congress next month. The Central Committee accused the first lady of \u201cpreaching hate, divisiveness and assuming roles and powers not delegated to the office.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zimbabwean officials never revealed details of Mugabe\u2019s talks with the military on his exit, but the military appeared to favor a voluntary resignation to maintain a veneer of legality in the political transition. Mugabe, in turn, has likely used whatever leverage he has left to try to preserve his legacy or even protect himself and his family from possible prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hours before Mugabe spoke on television, Chris Mutsvangwa, head of the country\u2019s liberation war veterans, said more protests could occur if the president didn\u2019t step aside. He said he was concerned that the military could end up opening fire to protect Mugabe from protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe would expect that Mugabe would not have the prospect of the military shooting at people, trying to defend him,\u201d Mutsvangwa said. \u201cThe choice is his.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mugabe\u2019s choice on Sunday was to remain president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zimbabwe\u2019s President Robert Mugabe on Sunday defied calls to quit immediately, saying he will preside over a ruling party congress in December in an announcement that could trigger impeachment proceedings in the parliament this week as well as more protests demanding his ouster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":113792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":47,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,11,47,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2612,2301],"class_list":["post-52297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-mideast-africa","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"GCWXSLAB2ZDYFM3JQ2NGC5WDIY","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/mideast-africa\/2017\/11\/19\/zimbabwe-ruling-party-says-mugabe-goes-or-impeachment-starts\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17323488459393.jpg.jpg\")